


Zombies, Stalkers, and Zoomers, Oh My

by she_who_the_river_could_not_hold



Series: Zombie Things [1]
Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Zombie Apocalypse, Body Horror, F/M, Swearing, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-21
Updated: 2018-01-10
Packaged: 2019-02-17 21:25:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 16,238
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13085676
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/she_who_the_river_could_not_hold/pseuds/she_who_the_river_could_not_hold
Summary: Killing zombies isn’t how Max Mayfield imagined spending her summer, yet here she is. Equipped with a shovel and a stubbornness to live, she finds herself unexpectedly partnered up with Lucas Sinclair, a fellow teenager in this apocalyptic wasteland who stumbled upon her one day. She can’t quite bring herself to admit how much of a good team they make, but there’s nothing like a world filled with infected zombies to bring two people together.





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This story came to me on an airplane and I immediately knew I had to write it! I’m a bit desensitized in terms of content so I took the safer route just in case and rated this teen for the moments of violence and descriptions of body gore. Enjoy!

Bashing the brains in of zombie isn’t nearly as satisfying as it looked in the movies.

 

_But it’s kind of close_ , Max thinks to herself as she swings the shovel down as hard as she can, grunting with the force she exerts.

 

There’s a crunch as the metal part collides with what’s left of the zombie’s skull and Max barely flinches as some sort of bodily fluid sprays up at her. This isn’t the first time and at this point it’s a waste of reflexes to react to it.

 

The zombie had made some sort of groaning screech but it’s quickly cut off with a gurgle as it dies. Or dies again, Max isn’t positive about the technical term for it. Shoving her boot on its chest, she yanks the shovel out from where it had lodged into the head and she stumbles back as its freed.

 

Just as she’s regaining her balance, she hears a low whistle coming from behind her.

 

Whirling around, her long red hair whipping behind her, she quickly raises her shovel back up defensively. It turns out her paranoia is misplaced for once as her eyes land on a very much living person. Another teen from the looks of it actually. 

 

He looks to be just a bit taller than her, his black skin glistening in the sun from the sweat that had escaped the camo bandana around his head. He’s got a pair of binoculars hanging from his neck and his striped shirt has blood and dirt splattered on it, no doubt mirroring her own. More interesting to her though is the crossbow hanging loosely by his side. 

 

“Who the hell are you?” Max called out, warily lowering her shovel. Sure he wasn’t a zombie, but she didn’t feel like she should just go around happily greeting every person she ran into.

 

He makes his way over the rubble, reattaching the crossbow to a strap and swinging it behind him. Holding his hands up as a truce, he slowly approaches her, each step deliberate.

 

“That was incredible the way you took it out,” he said, ignoring her question. “I was going to try and nail him myself but you just went for it so I just sat back and watched”

 

By the time he had completely reached her spot, Max had lowered her shovel and rested it against her leg. Not that she had completely let her guard down, after all she knew it would only take a couple seconds to hoist it back up and jab him in the gut, but a quick look at the guy and she had a feeling she was safe. 

 

“Thanks, I’m pretty good at taking care of myself,” she responded.

 

Now that he was standing in front of her, she could see he was only a handful of inches taller than her but had an athletic build that no doubt had contributed to him surviving so long. Plus that crossbow she couldn’t help but keep glancing at with a bit of jealousy. 

 

Cocking her head, she eyed him for a minute with a narrowed gaze.

 

“Have you been following me?” 

 

He had the grace to look a bit sheepish but didn’t seem too bothered by her question.

 

“Just for a day or two, I saw you the other day and tried to reach out to you but those bastards kept popping up. So I kinda just kept following you. You’re the first person I’ve seen in a while so I didn’t want to lose you before I even got to meet you.”

 

His explanation was honest and Max felt herself grinning. 

 

“Okay Stalker, do you have a name?”

 

He snorted. “Stalker? Okay sure, whatever. I’m Lucas.”

 

She looked down at his outreached hand and tried to remember the last time she had shaken someone’s hand. Probably her step-brother’s right before she drove the syringe into his neck to kill him, the empty promise of _family protecting family_ still dying on his lips as she did what she knew she had to do. What her step-father and mother had been too scared to do.

 

This was different though. This Lucas guy was looking at her earnestly, not a trace of blood in the whites of his eyes. He was clear.

 

She reached out and grasped his hand, unable to ignore relief flooding her body at how warm it was with life.

 

“I’m Max, nice to meet you.”

 

* * *

 

The two made their way slowly through the city, clearing rubble as they went. It was an unspoken move of the survivors, as if there was a day they would be able to reclaim their cities and lives. 

 

Wordlessly the two teens walked alongside each other as the day went on. The sun was baking down on them and Lucas refolded his bandana multiple times, wringing it out in between. Max had given up on her hair and had thrown it into a long braid down her back. Not that cities always smell amazing in the summer, but there was now the added stench of rotting bodies occasionally scattered throughout the streets, mingling into the oppressive humidity. 

 

Not exactly an ideal summer.

 

Max was comfortable with the silence and it appeared that Lucas was too. It was nice to be around a human again, and she had to admit she hadn’t realized how much she had missed it. Long before the infection had spread she had prided herself on her independence. It was a key to her not losing her mind yet, but it was the mere presence of this guy that reminded her in a wave of emotion what it meant to be near another person.

 

Eventually after a while, her natural talkative spirit returned (she was actually kind of surprised her vocal cords still worked after a couple weeks of not talking to anyone), and she broke down and asked him the question that had been burning in the back of her mind.

 

“So why are you alone?” 

 

She could see his shoulders tense up but his voice was as steady as it had been when he had first appeared to her.

 

“My friends and I got separated, my family was on vacation,” he responded. There felt like there was more coming so Max held her tongue.

 

After a beat, Lucas kept talking.

 

“My dad’s in the military so he was able to get our family evacuated pretty quickly thanks to government priority. My little sister is with him and my mom, but I was with my friends and couldn’t join in time to get out of here. Mike and El got out fast together, there was no way in hell they were going to be separated. I think Will’s doing okay with his mom and brother. Dustin is with Steve kicking ass somewhere last I heard but we all had to split up when we got swarmed.”

 

It felt  like he was running through the names for his own sake and Max felt almost melancholy as he spoke. She couldn’t think of a time she had this many people to care about.

 

“But yeah, I kind of just eventually ended up by myself for the last week. How about you?” 

 

He had finally finished his story and looked over at Max, his eyes glittering with unshed tears despite the stoic expression on his face. Max was impressed. This was someone who had no idea where his family and friends were and yet still managed to have amazing composure and push himself through all of this. She had lucked into not giving a shit about anyone but still couldn’t ignore the pangs of envy that bubbled up inside her. It was easy to be strong when you had nothing to lose, Lucas was clearly a lot more than just what he appeared to be. Maybe he would be a pretty good travel companion after all.

 

She coughed to give herself time and scuffed her shoe on the torn up asphalt beneath her.

 

“Shit luck I suppose. My step-brother got infected and managed to turn my mom and his dad before I killed him. Then I guess I struck out on my own, doing what I do best, which is just running away.”

 

Damn. Saying it out loud was almost cathartic.

 

Lucas’ eyes widened as he stared at her.

 

“You had to kill your own brother?” he asked in hushed tones, incredulously.

 

“Step-brother,” Max interjected with a dismissive wave of her hand. “But yeah. Stabbed him right in the neck with a syringe. It only took a couple seconds.”

 

She kicked a rock before continuing, watching it skid down the street ahead of them.

 

“He was my first kill and the worst part of it is that it wasn’t the first time I had thought of killing the bastard.”

 

To his credit, Lucas didn’t react to that last statement, but Max couldn’t believe the relief it gave her. She tried her best to choke back a sob, not even feeling sadness at the confession, but a relief at the final acknowledgment of the shit she had gone through under Billy and the freedom she had gained when he had died. She glanced over at her new companion and was relieved to see him staring at her sympathetically, not like she was some sort of monster like she sometimes felt like she was. 

 

“Maybe things happen for a reason,” he eventually said and she gave him a watery smile, despite her resolution to stay cold towards him out of habit.

 

How the hell was this guy making her open up like this? She didn’t know what was going on, and she knew emotions weren’t good to have nowadays when it was essentially the end of the world, but she felt a rush of gratitude towards him. Maybe it was because she could sense his loyalty to those in his life or the steadfastness at which he seemed to be approaching everything. Either way, within a couple hours of wandering he had already managed to put a crack in the front she kept up.

 

“Yeah, maybe,” she responded, feeling herself drawing closer to him.

 

What could have been a moment if given the chance was immediately interrupted – because they were living in reality and zombies waited for no one. 

 

A guttural cry pierced the air and the two teens turned just in time to see three of the infected headed straight for them. They had emerged from the depths of what looked to be a parking garage, their long shadows in the setting sun reaching the teens long before they did. Thankfully movies had overestimated how fast these things could move, which gave Lucas and Max just the right amount of time to jump back into survival mode.

 

The one closest to them lunged towards Max, its arms reaching out towards her as its hands clutched at the air. It had maybe been a man at one point, the remains of what looked like a polo shirt drooping off of its shoulders and khakis barely hanging onto boney hips. The sound of breathing could only be what one would assume the phrase “death rattle” translated to, the air barely escaping the pockmarked throat. This one had clearly been infected for a long time, maybe even an original victim. 

 

Advantage point: Max. 

 

Sidestepping it quickly and planting her feet, Max swung the shovel back before uncoiling, bringing on a bizarre flash of nostalgia and a memory of her elementary school softball days. It turned out that rotting flesh operated in a similar fashion to something akin to tee ball, the head snapping back and coming completely off with a crack. Seconds later the body crumbled to the ground with it, twitching as it succumbed to losing its central nervous system. 

 

One down. Two to go.

 

However, it looked like the others weren’t as far gone and they were quickly advancing.

 

Lucas backed up, throwing his crossbow up and taking aim at the second one approaching them. This one, seemingly more alive if that was possible, let out a grunt as it pushed forward. Its eyes were trained only on Max and she stumbled backwards in an attempt to create more distance between them. Lucas could tell her reflexes were off, having been distracted by the first zombie and she was struggling to get a solid grip on her shovel again. Taking a deep breath to center himself, Lucas tracked the zombie’s movements for a minute before letting the arrow fly towards his target. 

 

Max watched as an arrow suddenly lodged into the zombie’s throat. She scrambled back as the thing began to claw at its neck, bloodshot eyes shooting back and forth rapidly in its primal fear. A black liquid began to pool out.

 

“Back up Max!” Lucas yelled out as soon as soon as he spotted the blood.

 

Max didn’t need telling twice, quickly turning and running towards him. Sensing that the girl was getting away, the zombie released a loud groan before fighting through the pain and attempting to follow her. Barely getting behind Lucas in time, Max spun around just in time to see another arrow released and plunging into the zombie’s heart. It looked down, dumbfounded, before collapsing on its side.

 

Lucas turned to check on Max, eyes wide with concern. Before he could speak though, Max interrupted him with a yell and a panicked look.

 

“DUCK!”

 

He immediately dropped to the ground and Max jabbed her shovel up and out, crashing through the mouth of third zombie who had overcome the distance and was nearly on top of them. It stopped immediately, stuck on the end of the shovel. It choked briefly on the metal before dying with one last jerk of its body, sliding off onto the ground.

 

Shifting the shovel to the side, Max gave Lucas room to stand back up again. He was heaving, his breath deep as he stared down at the body just at his feet. That had been a close one. Almost too close. He kicked its hand away before turning back to Max. She was having trouble catching her breath too and for a moment, they just stood there staring at each other.

 

“Thanks for saving my life,” Lucas finally said, a smile slowly growing on his face as it sunk in for both of them that they could actually relax again.

 

Max grinned, “Same here, how the hell did you learn to shoot like that?”

 

He shrugged nonchalantly, sliding his crossbow back behind him. 

 

“I was pretty good with a slingshot as a kid.”

 

Max nodded, pretending it was a completely logical connection (because as if a kid would have been able to know how to cause any damage with a _sling shot_ of all things).

 

“Well I guess it worked out that you were stalking me after all,” she teased, giving him a small poke in the shoulder.

 

Lucas began to protest but she shushed him, her gaze having drifted over his shoulder past him towards the parking garage. There was that itch in her fingers again. She knew there were decent chances that more of the zombies were camped out there but the potential was too good to pass up.

 

Catching onto her look, Lucas slowly turned back around and glanced back at the garage before looking back at Max. He arched a single eyebrow and in response she simply gave him a smirk, knowing that he had connected the dots.

 

With a sign he agreed to her plan.

 

“Alright let’s get the fuck out of here.”

 

* * *

 

Max had been immediately drawn to a blue Camaro, probably from the 80’s and somehow in what appeared to be perfect condition. Her family had owned a used one, and she remembered as a child trying to reach the pedals while Billy ran into gas stations to buy a pack of cigarettes, dreaming of taking the car and just leaving. Lucas watched her back as she pulled a bobby pin out of her pocket to pick the lock, crossbow raised in case of any unwelcome guests. 

 

She was about halfway through what she thought was unlocking it when she felt Lucas’ leg tense next to her.

 

“Uh, you might want to speed of the process down there,” he muttered to her.

 

Refusing to look behind her, Max felt her heartbeat speed up as she tried to not fumble with the bobby pin. She could hear the labored breathing from here and the shuffle of feet. She had been correct in her assumption that more zombies would be here and she had never been more upset to be right about something.

 

“Fuck fuck fuck, there’s probably five of them,” came a whisper from above her.

 

Okay, maybe now it was time to panic. 

 

Adjusting the bobby pin one last time, hands clammy and trying to maintain normal breathing, Max felt the final pin click and the drivers door swung open. 

 

“Get in the car,” she yelled at Lucas, shooting up into a standing position. 

 

“No,” he shot back, “get in and start it up, I’ll defend the car until we’re ready to go.”

 

Max stared desperately at him before looking towards the zombies that were now halfway to them. They ranged in stages of decay, but the most human looking one of them was gaining a terrifyingly large lead on the others. Its leg was dragging behind it, the ankle nearly snapped off, no doubt from their initial (and failed) attempt to escape the infected. Even from across the parking garage Max could see the frenzied bloodshot eyes staring the teens down. It licked its lips, a gray-purple tongue leaving a slick trail of saliva dripping from a blackened mouth. Max fought back the nausea that was threatening to grow in her. This one had to be one of the most active ones she had seen yet.

 

She turned back to Lucas, pleading, “Lucas get in the fucking car.”

 

“No! It doesn’t do us any good to have a car if we’re dead before we even start it. You need to get it going while I watch your back. You’ll be distracted trying to start it any of them could get you while you’re trying to start it. I won’t do you any good if I’m just sitting there.”

 

They were locked in the argument and stared each other down. Max knew he was right but the idea of losing the first person she had learned to trust in less than a day was too hard of a concept to process. Each second of their standstill though brought the zombies closer though and the tension was palpable in the air.

 

When neither of them moved, Max sighed, realizing that she might have met her match in stubbornness. 

 

“Fine, I’ll start the car. I swear to god if you die though I’ll bring you back and kill you myself Stalker,” she growled before throwing her shovel in the car and sliding in after it. She quickly ran her throughout the car, feeling and praying that by some chance the owner had dropped the keys in the car before ditching it.

 

Lucas slowly adjusted his stance, keeping his crossbow trained on the incoming zombie. He wasn’t interested in wasting arrows he couldn’t retrieve but he’d use all of them if he needed to give Max enough time to get the car going. He felt sweat roll down his neck and by now he wasn’t sure if it was from the heat or the nerves. He didn’t even really dare to blink.

 

Just when Max was about to give up hope, her fingers brushed cold metal underneath the seat. The keys! She gripped them and pulled them out triumphantly, turning to yell out to Lucas that she had found them. However once she saw how focused she was and how close that one zombie was she decided that maybe now wasn’t the best time. Instead she thrust the keys in and cranked the car on. The engine rumbled, almost angrily after not having been used for a while, before roaring to life. Max couldn’t fit the enormous smile on her face as she felt the car thrum beneath her.

 

“Any time now,” Lucas called over his shoulder, “I’d love to not have to try to kill these guys!” 

 

Max nodded and threw the car into reverse, simultaneously slamming the gas. The car was practically shaking with power and she shot backwards, one hand on the leather seat next to her while she looked behind her. 

 

Lucas dodged to the left, trying to maintain focus on the zombie in front of him. Fuck it, this was too close to play games. He cocked the crossbow and released the arrow, firing into the zombie’s shoulder. It staggered back, looking down. Slowly it reached up with a hand that still had flesh on it, covered in boils and blisters, and yanked the arrow out. Black blood bubbled up from the wound and it turned its eyes from the speeding car over to Lucas.

 

_Shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shiiiiiiittttt._

 

Quickly lowering the crossbow to the ground, Lucas quickly went to reload it. He could feel his hands shaking but he was able to slide the new arrow into and thrust it back up into the air. The zombie had to be about twenty feet away now. Without pausing, Lucas shot again, nailing it in the gut. He knew he most likely needed a headshot or a direct hit to the heart but he wasn’t sure he had the time to deliberate on his aim. 

 

He was preparing for a third shot, eyeing the remaining other zombies that had been creeping up and beginning to circle him when the the revving of an engine distracted all of them. Teen and zombies alike all turned to look. 

 

Max had finished backing the Camaro up and then had spun it around to be facing Lucas and the zombies. Her petite stature made it that Lucas could barely see her face above the steering wheel before she let out a loud whoop and slammed on the gas.

 

With a devilish grin, Max plowed forward with eyes only for the zombie closest to Lucas. There was a sickening, incredibly satisfying crunch as she ran him over. 

 

“Now will you get in the fucking car??” Max yelled out, almost laughing at the absurdity of the situation. This time, Lucas didn’t hesitate and dove for the passengers door and throwing it open.

 

The zombies were making an odd groaning sound at the site of their fallen companion and tightened their circle.

 

Max revved the engine one more time before taking off, Lucas flattened against his seat as the tires squealed with the tight turnaround Max forced the car to make. The zombies stumbled after, clamoring to grab onto the car. Max however had other plans and the car burst out into the dying sunset, leaving the gang of undead at the parking garage exit.

 

She didn’t let up on the gas until it felt like they were far enough away, having woven through the city streets for a good fifteen minutes. Muscle memory took her straight to the highway and soon enough they were coasting on the open road.

 

Lucas had finally relaxed, or at least he had when she finally had let up from the gas a little bit and had stopped taking the turns at ridiculous angles.

 

“Not bad back there Zoomer,” he said, glancing over at her.

 

Max bit her lip to stop herself from getting too silly of a grin on her face. Zoomer, she liked the sound of it. 

 

“Okay, so where to?”

 

Lucas rubbed his chin and looked distractedly out the window at the landscape flashing by.

 

“Well,” he began slowly, “before my friends and I got split up we were trying to figure out what had caused all of the infection. We had reason to think it originated in our hometown.”

 

Max’s eyebrows shot up.

 

“Shit really?”

 

“Yeah, it’s pretty crazy. But we felt like we were close to uncovering it. I don’t know, maybe it’s crazy… but I feel like if we head back there maybe we can find something. A cure. Or even just an explanation for it all.”  


Lucas cast a questioning look at her, no doubt assuming that he sounded crazy. Max didn’t really have to think about it though. She had nothing here going for her here in Chicago and even if they weren’t going to be able to outrun the zombies forever, this could give them something to do in the meantime. Give her some sort of purpose.

 

“Stalker I think that’s the best plan you’ve had yet,” she announced, throwing a punch to his shoulder. He rolled his eyes and feigned anger, but she could see him trying to hold back a laugh.

 

“Okay then,” he responded resolutely. 

 

The sun was almost set, giving him a warm glow bouncing off the rich tones of his skin. Max’s red hair shone in the light, dancing where the strands had escaped her braid. Small bits of static went in and out of the radio and a simple necklace hung from the rearview mirror, glinting in the sunlight. Three quarters of a tank to go in the car that now belonged to two teenagers, a crossbow, and a bloodied up shovel. 

 

“Onward to Hawkins, Indiana.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What is it like to not let stories just completely get away from you? Because I really have no idea (also wow action is hard to write). I’m considering creating this into a series and having some other one shots accompany it to get a look at what the whole gang is up to during the apocalypse but we’ll see! I could also just write a book’s worth of pages about Max being a badass and how great of a partnership she and Lucas have. As my roommate said, “couples bonding over zombie slaughter, such their aesthetic.”
> 
> Thanks for checking it out!


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Every good zombie story is essentially required to have a road trip and a hotel sequence, so how was I not going to have one for Lucas and Max on their journey? I apparently have a problem of creating one shots and being unable to leave them alone. 
> 
> Also a heads up that the body gore gets a little bit more intense in this chapter, heed the tag!

The best part of a zombie apocalypse is that there’s pretty much zero traffic on the highways.

 

Max had lost track of the hours spent on the road, with the sun finally having set and the scenery blending together into a dark blur. The clock in the car seemed to be stuck on an earlier time for some reason and while she was confident behind the wheel, she wasn’t too positive she felt like fiddling with anything else in the car either. 

 

She’s tapping out a beat on the steering wheel when she hears her companion stir in the seat next to her. A low murmur, a shift in his seat, and then he’s right back to sleep.

 

Lucas Sinclair: child slingshot prodigy (apparently), expert crossbow shooter (proven).

 

She still isn’t entirely sure what to make of him, but Max does know that what she’s seen from him in the last six or so hours has impressed her. He’s quick to action but also apparently thinks things out, which is a bit more than Max can admit for herself. The little bit they had talked showed how much of a connection he had to his friends and family, even while being separated from them during all of this shit. The jealousy that had originally stung in Max’s heart had given way to a lot of respect. And honestly she kind of wanted to somehow meet all of these people when this whole mess was over. Lucas seemed confident in their chances of survival so maybe there was a chance.

 

Plus he had absolutely helped save her ass back in Chicago against a whole group of zombies. And without his help she probably would have never been able to steal the Camaro she was currently driving. So either way, he was probably worth keeping around at least for a little while.

 

Another noise came from the passenger seat before a mumbled, “What time is it?”

 

“Unknown!” Max replied with a chipper voice, glancing over as Lucas rubbed his eyes and slowly sat upright.

 

“You shouldn’t have let me fall asleep,” he immediately said, his tone growing combative. “I could have kept watch or we could have switched on and off driving. It’s dangerous to drive for too long, especially this late at night.”

 

Max rolled her eyes.

 

“It’s alright Stalker you don’t need to worry, I’ve got us covered. I pretty much drove my family all of the way to Chicago from California when I was 15. Anyway we’ve only been on the road for a couple hours probably, you weren’t out for that long.”

 

Lucas furrowed his brows, looking at her out of the corner of his eyes,

 

“I didn’t know you were from California,” came his skeptical response.

 

Max scoffed, “Oh I’m sorry, it must be hard to believe since I’m not some tall blonde supermodel that I’m from California.”

 

“Cool it Zoomer,” Lucas said with a chuckle. “You just don’t seem like it. You haven’t said any weird slang or anything, like tubular or some other thing all those surfers say.”

 

Max threw her head back with laughter before turning to face him.

 

“Tubular??” Her smirk in full force, she stared him down. “What are you from like some sort of cheesy 80’s TV show? Who the hell says tubular?”

 

Lucas couldn’t stop laughing at himself now that Max had started. Okay so maybe it wasn’t the most up to date phrase, but still. You never know with people from California.

 

Raising his hands in defeat, Lucas cast her a smile. 

 

“Fine, fine. You don’t say tubular but I accept that you’re from California,” he conceded.

 

Max flipped him off, almost affectionately, and he made a grab at her hand. Shrieking, she almost swerved the car and the two exploded into laughter once she had straightened everything back out.

 

“Nice try Sinclair but as long as I’m still breathing, I’m going to utilize this finger,” Max warned him teasingly, going back to waving her middle finger back at him. Only then did it click with her that his hand was resting on her leg from when he had reached forward. She tried to swallow the nervous gulp she had and refocused on the road.

 

“Uh, so any idea how far out we are?” she asked, proud of herself for keeping her voice from going too high-pitched.

 

_Get a grip Maxine_ , she scolded herself. _He’s just some guy._

 

Whether or not Lucas had caught onto the awkward moment or not, he didn’t show it and resettled himself back into the passenger’s seat. The imprint of his hand still burned on her thigh and Max tried her best to control the blush that was threatening to bloom on her face. She really didn’t have time to think about how nice of a smile he had, they had a mission.

 

Interrupting her thoughts, and whatever it was that Lucas was about to say, Max suddenly found herself letting out a loud yawn. Lucas shot her a quick glare.

 

“What was that about not switching drivers?”

 

“Hey you’re from here, are there any hotels or whatever around here? We can just do the last hour tomorrow since it wouldn’t do any good to get there and then just have to still find a place,” Max asked, pointedly ignoring his question. Okay so she was tired, sue her. She’d essentially been on the run for two weeks. But she wasn’t about to hand over the Camaro to someone she was pretty positive only drove the exact speed limit.

 

Lucas rolled his eyes, a habit he thought he had used a lot with Dustin and Mike’s shenanigans but it turned out hanging out with Max just about doubled the amount of times he did it. This girl really was something else.

 

“Yeah there’s an old motel that we’re probably pretty close to,” he replied, turning to squint out the window. “If you stop speeding for about two minutes I can see if I can recognize an exit number for us to get off at.”

 

Max kept the retort on the tip of her tongue, instead slowly living her foot slowly off the gas so that the car brought itself down to a more manageable speed. Lucas grumbled a thank you, peering out the window.

 

“There,” he said suddenly. “Take the next exit that’s going to come up.”

 

The motel ended up being stationed about a mile off of the highway. There were a sporadic amount of lights lit up in the windows and it otherwise was completely alone, nestled into the trees. Max eases the car into the parking spot near what looks like a front desk area, the gravel crunching underneath her in the completely silent night air. There’s a single porch light on, gently swaying in the night’s breeze. Two other cars are in the parking lot; one looks like it’s been absolutely abandoned while the other looks like it’s been somewhat used recently. It’s mildly comforting at least. 

 

Less comforting is the front door which is slightly ajar.

 

Lucas gives a small nod, almost as if he was convincing himself this was a good idea. He rubs the palms of his hands on his jeans, the only real sign of the nervous energy he’s otherwise perfectly concealing.

 

Max similarly finds herself silent as well, observing the motel in front of them. She had subconsciously begun to twist some strands of hair between her fingers, an age-old habit. Minutes ticked on by as the two sat in the car, unmoving. 

 

“Well, I suppose we should just go in,” she finally said, looking over at Lucas.

 

He licked his lips nervously before throwing his door open confidently.

 

“Yeah. Let’s do it, there’s no use in waiting to see if we’re about to die. Might as well take it head on,” he said as he made his way out of the car, crossbow in hand.

 

Max smiled at his determination before following him, slamming the door shut behind her and her shovel tossed over her shoulder casually. Nothing weird here, just two teens ready to take on a potential motel filled with zombies.

 

Luckily for them, it wasn’t.

 

The main door to the check-in desk swung open easily into the small, square room. Stepping in lightly with weapons raised ever so much, Max and Lucas had eased their way in only to walk nose-first into a man aiming a rifle towards them. 

 

He towered over them, a gruff looking man probably somewhere in his mid-fifties. Dirty blonde hair curled out from under a worn baseball cap, and very much like the two teens standing in his doorway, he had dried blood speckled and splattered across his jeans and shirt. Upon seeing the them though, his eyebrows shot up in surprise and lowered the rifle (but only a little bit, this is a zombie apocalypse after all). His eyes darting warily back and forth between them, it took him only a couple seconds to evaluate them. 

 

“Who are you?” 

 

His voice was as every bit of rough as you’d expect based on his appearance, and while it was laced with suspicion, it lacked too much fire. Which hopefully meant he had determined that he could at least trust the teens enough to not just shoot them where they stood. 

 

Max’s heart rate had returned to normal, though her eyes never strayed from the muzzle of the rifle that was now aimed towards their feet. She wasn’t positive she knew what to make of the man but the gun strained on them certainly pointed to him not being infected. That could be good news as long as he wasn’t too trigger-happy when it came to shooting that thing. Lucas shifted next to her before answering the man, apparently having come to the same conclusion.

 

“I’m Lucas and this is Max, we’re driving into Hawkins but wanted to see if we could spend the rest of the night here, build up some energy,” he said, voice clear and authoritative. 

 

Max found herself thanking whichever supposed supreme being that was up there for sending her someone who knew how to stay calm under pressure.

 

“Hawkins?” The man let out a laugh that turned into a slight cough. “Hawkins has pretty much evacuated since the infection, what business would two kids have going back there?”

 

Bristling at being called a kid, Max threw her shoulders back defiantly. 

 

“Well for one, we’re not kids. And two, we’re going back in to figure out what the hell happened and how we can stop it.”

 

Lucas sighed and resisted the urge to drop his head into his hands. Not that there was any real need for secrecy, but he also wasn’t sure they needed to go around screaming what they were planning. Plus he’d like to keep people thinking that they’re at least a little bit sane. 

 

The man, while somewhat confused, didn’t seem to unnerved by the explanation.

 

“I can’t exactly believe that you know what you two are getting into, but I also wouldn’t fight the idea that there’s something on there. Ever since that Department of Energy building was put into use years ago, it feels like that’s when it all started.”

 

Max and Lucas looked at each other quickly, both filled with a feeling of validation and dread.

 

For Lucas, it confirmed the stories he had heard El tell about the experiments that were happening even further past the ones on her. The wild screams she would hear and the belief she had that they were testing something dangerous. It would explain why the infection had seemed to have spread from Indiana so early on, long before other states. That his dad’s suspicions from information he was getting from higher ups in his squadron were valid.

 

For Max, it further drove into her that not only was Lucas correct, but that she maybe had potentially just gotten herself in over her head. But even with that realization, there was a feeling of adrenaline pulsing through her. She’d always been just Max, plagued by an older step-brother who drilled into her that she would be nothing. That she was nothing. But this? This in its own way was a chance at proving him wrong. She had no idea what was going to happen, but she could actually help people now.

 

“Well, in that case we should probably get some rest before heading in,” Lucas said slowly, turning to look back at the man.

 

He nodded, moving towards the front desk. While they had been talking, an older woman had approached the group from one of the backrooms. She cautiously stepped further into the dim light, rolling her sleeves down as she advanced forward and shoving her hands deep into the pockets of her vest.

 

“Travis what’s going on out here?”

 

The man, Travis, looked back at the teens as he shuffled through one of the drawers.

 

“These two are heading into Hawkins to see if they can find out what all happened here.”

 

She was silent after that, gazing steadily at Lucas and Max. Max gave an awkward wave and Lucas tilted his head in acknowledgement. 

 

“This is my mother, she and I run the motel,” Travis said. “Or at least we did before everyone got infected or was evacuated. We stayed behind to help the survivors get out, the ones who missed the evacuations. Here let’s see which key I can find first.”

 

Max let Lucas handle it all, wandering over to look at the wall on the opposite side of the room. 

 

She felt restless but she understood that they needed to get sleep. Especially if they were about to get themselves involved in something much bigger than them. She wasn’t sure the last time she had slept in a bed.

 

Before she can help it, there’s a flash of Billy in her mind. His guttural cry of anguish as he died in front of her had burned itself into her brain and it felt like it was echoing off the insides of her skull. 

 

Shaking her head,she shoved the memory away. It makes her skin crawl and she’s putting off processing it all until… well she’s not sure when but definitely not right now. 

 

It isn’t until she feels a tap on her shoulder that she realizes she’s been completely out of it for a few minutes, just staring at a blank wall. She spins around to see a concerned Lucas, one hand resting on her shoulder. 

 

“You okay Zoomer?” 

 

His voice is soft, just loud enough for only her to hear. Max looks down and realizes she was gripping her shovel so tightly that her knuckles had gone white, her hands almost shaking. Letting out a deep breath, she slowly releases the tension in herself and relaxes her grip on the shovel. Noting that she was seeming to come to again, Lucas held up a small gold key with a green keychain. 

 

“Room 008, just outside on the first floor.”

 

“That one should still have a working lock,” Travis offered from across the room. “But I can’t promise protection beyond that.”

 

Max understood that. You looked out for yourself these days. And a crossbow-shooting guy if you were lucky enough to find one.

 

“There’s an ice machine down this hall back here that we’ve kept working if you feel like you need some. Electricity is a bit spotty but Ma just checked on the generator so we should be good for at least the night. Otherwise, feel free to make yourselves at home here, it’s just the four of us,” Travis said as he reloaded bullets into the gun.

 

Lucas and Max thanked the two adults profusely before making their way back outside.

 

There was a steady hum of crickets, but the night was otherwise that perfect, sleepy summer feeling. It was almost possible to imagine that it was just a regular summer night and they were just two teens on a road trip. Humidity was terrible, but Max had reluctantly acknowledged that it wasn’t the complete worst at night during these months, especially with a cool breeze.

 

Without the need for grabbing luggage, the two made their way over to the room. True to Travis’ word, the room was indeed locked. A stark contrast to the room next to them with the door barely hanging on its hinges and plenty of marks of a fight left on it. Lucas cautiously stepped in first, testing the light switch. One of the lights flickered on, casting a lopsided amount of light in the room. Well, better than nothing. 

 

Max couldn’t help the groan that escaped her mouth when she saw the beds and she immediately bellyflopped on the one closest to her.

 

“I’m never leaving this room.”

 

Lucas laughed from where he was locking the door behind them. 

 

“Whatever you say Mayfield. I’m just glad there are two beds so we can spread out.”

 

Propping herself up on her elbows, Max looked over at the other bed before back at Lucas. 

 

“Yeah thank god, I really can’t imagine any of this becoming more of a cliche if we had to share a bed too, we’d be every movie out there.”

 

“Hey I’d like you to know that sharing a bed with me would be great,” Lucas replied, jokingly pointing his finger at her accusingly before collapsing on the adjacent bed. “Oh. Wait. Okay yeah I get what you mean, I’m never leaving this bed either.”

 

“I didn’t know I could be this sore, who new swinging a shovel is hard on your muscles,” Max whined.

 

“Tell me about it, I’m too scared to get my hopes up that the shower works but it’s all I can think of after this,” muttered Lucas, his voice muffled by the pillow he had thrown over his face.

 

Max looked over at him, biting her lip.

 

“Is it weird heading home but without your friends or family? And instead with me, a complete stranger?”

 

Her question hung in the air for a bit before he finally answered.

 

“Yeah it’s kind of weird. I wasn’t sure I’d ever come back, I didn’t know if I could or if I had it in me. It seemed easier for all of us to just run. We wanted to be together as a party but we just knew it wasn’t realistic. And to know I’m almost there and my house is empty with the rest of my family god knows where? Yeah it’s weird. I can’t shake the feeling that I’ve somehow let them down, so for them to not be here adds to that.”

 

He had removed the pillow from his face but his voice was still thick with emotion. His eyes never left the ceiling. 

 

“I think you’re really strong,” Max whispered.

 

He turned to look over at her, finding her laying on her back in a similar position to him.

 

“You’re still so faithful to the idea of them, that they’re all still out there and worth fighting for. Even when you don’t say it, it shows in how you fight I guess. That you’re fighting to stay alive for them. I don’t know what that’s like. I’m still here but it feels like I’m living out of sheer will, not because I have something to fight for. I just keep running because it’s easier than stopping to think about everything. I don’t even know if my real dad is still alive.”

 

When Lucas didn’t respond, Max quickly wiped the stray tear that had escaped. She hadn’t meant to open up like that but she just couldn’t help herself around him, it just came so naturally.

 

“Okay,” she said, suddenly sitting upright to banish the sadness that had begun to sunk in. “Stalker how about you go check out that shower and I’ll get some ice so we can have cold water finally. I’m fucking parched.”

 

Lucas gave him her a half smile in return, clearly still processing everything she had said. Rather than pressure her to open beyond what she was comfortable with though, he instead pushed himself off the bed to check out the bathroom situation. A warmth had spread through him at the idea that she was learning to trust him, this firecracker of a girl that he had stumbled upon. He hadn’t even really been trying to break through her layers but it felt like one by one they were coming down.

 

Making sure to shut the door behind her, Max made her way outside of the room again in search of the ice machine. 

 

She had always loved the idea of motels. There was just something about the set up of them with the rooms on the outside and an almost frozen-in-time feel that she couldn’t get over.

 

She slowly made her way over to the building with the front desk, gently humming to herself. There was no way of knowing what was going to happen once they got into Hawkins and checked out this lab from the sounds of it, but she was excited for it. And for what maybe could be after.

 

Pushing the door open, Max looked around for Travis. It looked like no one was in the office, the door open somewhat to the back but she was otherwise met with complete silence. It was a nice courtesy of them to leave the lights on to the main building though, since she summarized that they had probably gone to get some sleep as well.

 

Walking down the hallway, Max suddenly felt a bit of anxiety creeping up on her as she neared the ice machine. 

 

Something felt off. Just as she was picking up the bucket to test getting some ice, she heard a rustle from the desk area - which was of course out of sight.

 

_Fuck she didn’t have her shovel. Or any weapon really_.

 

Every hair stood up on her neck and arms.

 

Hands trembling, she tightened her grip on the bucket and turned back towards the office. It was like warning signs were flashing in her head but there was no way in hell she was going to be caught unaware at the ice machine. There was just too much embarrassment in going out like that.

 

She was halfway there when the pieces began to come together.

 

The first thing she noticed were the fingers, just barely curled upwards and on the floor near the baseboards. Max’s breath hitched and she almost froze in her tracks. They were grimy and large, and distinctly male.

 

Two more steps forward.

 

More noises, something akin to snuffling and _something wet_. 

 

Max bit back the nausea and swung herself wide into the opening to the front desk area. It wasn’t something she would have noticed earlier, her eyes forward and her thoughts elsewhere. But with her attention entirely shifted onto the scene, it was impossible to miss.

 

Blood was smeared near the wall, dripping down onto the out-dated brown carpet. The files earlier that had been so neatly organized were strewn about on the floor behind the desk and the small trinkets had been knocked over.

 

And Travis’ hand was laying on the ground towards her, the arm and the rest of the body still obscured by the tall, oak desk.

 

Hardly daring to breathe or even blink, Max tiptoed closer so that she could peer over the counter. It was a miracle that she was able to hold back a scream, but she couldn’t stop the gasp that snuck out of her.

 

Travis’ mother looked up wildly from where she was crouched over his body. Blood was slipping from her chin and her fingers were halfway to her mouth, holding what Max could only assume was a chunk of what she assumed was Travis. The man who had given Lucas the key not even half an hour ago was sprawled on the floor, his face rolled towards Max. The back of his head seemed to have been where his mother’s focus had been, though Max thankfully couldn’t see how much damage had been done. 

 

More concerning was the stare that the woman was intently giving her.

 

“I couldn’t… I couldn’t help it,” she rasped, slowly standing up.

 

Max stumbled backwards, raising the bucket up in front of herself to give her at least the feeling of some sort of protection. 

 

“I was bit this afternoon, when I went to check on the generator. It looked like some type of dog, I tried to save it,” her voice was quiet but filled with a trembling hunger. “It just lunged for me, its mouth so distorted from being infected it didn’t even look real. I was able to kill it but not before it got me.”

 

She was fully standing now and Max was able to take in the full sight of her. The entire front of her was covered in blood and with her sleeves rolled up, Max could see the bite mark on the woman’s forearm. Blood bubbled up, mixing with the saliva at her mouth. The whites of her eyes were nearly gone, just a single ring of white surrounding her iris remained while the rest was effectively filled with twisting red blood vessels. 

 

Max could feel herself nearing hyperventilating, her breathing going in and out faster and faster.

 

“I couldn’t help myself, it clicked so fast and I’m just so… hungry,” the woman said tearfully, slowly working her way around her son’s body and towards Max. 

 

Suddenly more flashes of Billy begin going in and out Max’s mind, glitching between memory and the infected woman in the room with her. 

 

_Billy with his eyes completely bloodshot and glassy._

 

The woman turns the corner of the desk, her hand trailing blood and small flecks of flesh on the counter as she runs it across it.

 

_Billy wiping the blood from his mouth as he had stood before her, above her mom’s body._

 

She’s getting closer and Max’s feet automatically edge towards the door.

 

_Billy reaching towards her to caress her cheek, just like he used to do before slamming her head into the car window while he would speed down the streets._

 

The woman licks her lips and tears are now streaming down her face. It feels like there are some down Max’s face too.

 

_Billy begging her to stay with him and help him, growing angry when she shoves him away._

 

She’s standing directly in front of Max now, arms raising up.

 

_Billy hissing “family protects family” before she plunges the needle into his neck._

 

The woman lunges forward.

 

With a yelp, Max stumbles backwards but manages to thrust the bucket forward. It’s about as simple of a last minute plan as possible, but it catches the mother off guard enough that it creates space between the two. It wasn’t enough to stop the momentum however and the two crash through the glass front door.

 

Max grunts as she hits the ground, head smacking down on the pavement. She can feel the shards of glass cutting into her arms and hands.

 

The woman rolls over, forcing herself to stand up. Her shoulder looks dislocated or worse, the infection already taking its toll on her bones. She’s angry now and lets out a roar before moving to advance on Max, who is currently trying to scramble to get up.

 

The woman’s roar however is cut off, a slight _zing_ piercing the air.

 

An arrow embeds itself in her chest, just above her heart. 

 

Simultaneously Max and the mother look up to see Lucas walking steadily towards them, crossbow already reloaded. Max now knows she’s absolutely crying, but this time it’s from relief.

 

Lucas doesn’t even hesitate, letting another arrow fly. It lands perfectly inline with the woman’s heart and she stumbles back. It’s early in the transition so she’ll be harder to kill, but he’s never felt more confident in his aim. He quickly lowers the crossbow to reload it, never taking his eyes off of her. 

 

Max takes the distraction to shove her way up, biting her tongue to keep from yelling when her palms find broken glass. Taking off, she runs towards the wall of room doors and out of the strike zone. The mother is stumbling now as she makes her way towards Lucas.

 

“It’s not my fault, I was bit! I didn’t ask for this,” she yells out, her voice becoming garbled and delayed. Inky blood has begun to pool at her entry wounds.

 

“Trust me, I’m doing this for you,” he whispers more to himself than to Max as he swings the crossbow up for one more shot. 

 

She opens her mouth to scream and the arrow is a direct headshot. 

 

The woman crumbles to ground. The second she’s down, Max and Lucas run to each other. His hands skim her arms, landing at her hands. She can feel herself shaking from the experience as he delicately plucks some of the larger chunks of glass from her palm. When he’s done with an initial examination, they quickly embrace. She burrows herself into his arms, relaxing into the warm emitting from him. His hand runs through her hair before cradling her head as she calms herself down.

 

“Let’s get the hell out of here,” Max wheezes as she finally pulls back, her heart rate having returned to normal once again. 

 

Lucas couldn’t agree more. 

 

The two scrambled over to the office after double checking that the mother was indeed dead, Lucas yanking the arrows out from her body. Max lowered Travis’ eyelids out of respect, hand over her mouth to stop from gagging. Grabbing the rifle that had been discarded by Travis no doubt in the surprise attack by his mother, they did a quick scan of the room before heading back outside. It felt like time had stood still, everything just as it had been when they had pulled up just an hour or so ago. And really, except for Max’s cuts down her arm or Lucas carrying their new weapon, not much had changed. 

 

Mainly just their body count.

 

“You’re not driving,” Lucas announced, already heading towards the driver’s seat.

 

Max went to protest but winced as she lifted her arm and her jacket rubbed on her fresh cuts. Noting Lucas’ pointed look, she groaned. It felt like they were right back to their teasing selves, a nice break from the moments of near trauma earlier.

 

“Fine, fine. I guess you have a point. And I suppose this is your town,” she grumbled before throwing herself down into the passenger’s side of the car. Her shovel got tossed in the back (she did a better job hiding that grimace that time) and she gently placed the crossbow and rifle back with it as Lucas handed them to her. 

 

Getting behind the wheel, Lucas brushed his hands across it, taking in the smooth leather. 

 

“I can see why you were drawn to this one.”

 

“Yeah it’s beautiful, I used to think I’d get more into cars when I got older. Really learn how to fix them up and stuff.”

 

He shrugged as he turned the key in the ignition. 

 

“Plenty of time right? I bet there are loads of abandoned cars around that you could practice on,” he said. _Forever the one thinking logically_ , Max thought to herself.

 

Peeling out of the parking lot, Lucas began to take them down a smaller road just to the side of the highway. Max was pleasantly surprised that he was capable of driving over the speed limit (though she probably would have gone a little bit faster but she wasn’t in the mood to fight about that).

 

After a bit on the road, leaving behind them them the dangers of what they had just gone through, it was replaced with that usual adrenaline rush that seemed to accompany her lately. This suddenly felt like camp, racing around and finding new and weird ways to challenge her fellow preteens. 

 

“You know I’ve killed more of them than you have right?” Max asked with a wicked grin on her face as she turned to face Lucas.

 

“Excuse me? Did you turn this into some sort of competition?” He scoffed, pulling his bandana off with one hand as he got comfortable driving. “Anyway I think taking out that woman counts as at least two for me.”

 

Max rolled her eyes, readjusting herself in her seat so that she could roll the window down and lean her head out. She let the wind whip her long hair out of its braid and she took a deep breath of the fresh air as they flew down the road. She was alive. He was alive. And they were going to fucking kill some more zombies and find a cure.

 

Sliding back into the car then, she gave him a quick punch on the shoulder. 

 

“Lucas Sinclair, everything is a competition.”

 

He laughed, shaking his head while giving her a long look. 

 

“You know after all this I think I’m going to switch my nickname for you. You’re definitely crazy. Mad Max seems a lot more fitting.”

 

Max chuckled to herself, throwing her boots up onto the dash. Never in a million years did she think this was how she was going to be spending her summer. But she had to admit, minus the whole zombie thing, this actually wasn’t too bad.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WOW this chapter ended up completely evolving on its own! I loved writing it though and I think I’m starting to piece where this story is going to go. It will probably have one or two more chapters. And for the record, since meeting up with each other, Max has four kills and Lucas has three (the woman only counts as one).


	3. Chapter 3

While Hawkins had always been a small town, it exchanged its sleepy vibes for an entirely more eerie feeling after the infection had struck.

 

Trucks of people had been evacuated, families separated as the urgency to leave trumped the ability to locate everyone you needed. For some, it was too late and shops became boarded up as their owners had become infected and mercifully killed (or disappeared). There had been no time to think about what you were leaving behind, leaving roads littered with abandoned cars by those who were officially evacuated and half-ransacked homes from those who took to the highways themselves in an attempt to leave.

 

As one of the first places to be struck by the infection, they had been able to clear most of the bodies from the streets, save for a couple that had been left to decay on their own. The unlucky ones who hadn’t made it out.

 

Lucas felt his heart in his throat as he slowly drove the stolen Camaro through the streets.

 

Memories of riding his bike through the town with his best friends flash through his mind as if they were just yesterday. It was almost as if he could see them racing past the car, Mike leading the way as the other boys whooped and hollered closely behind him. Memories of long summer nights eating ice cream and early winter nights of hurrying back home for hot chocolate. Hanging out at the Radioshack as it closed down, snagging ridiculous deals on equipment for tinkering with later. 

 

Now it was essentially a ghost town, a silence filled with missing laughter and life.

 

Pieces of it feel the same and pieces of it feel so different that it’s like it’s not even home.

 

Lucas flexes his fingers on the steering wheel and regroups himself. He knew what he was going to be getting himself into by coming back. He was ready. And there was no way in hell he was going to go break into a secret government lab without a couple extra tools. And that meant coming back.

 

Plus, they needed to get some real sleep after the disaster of their last place.

 

The motel is long behind them now but Lucas can’t shake it from his mind.

 

A repeating image playing over and over again.

 

He had been stoked to figure out that the water worked in the room and had been eager to tell Max. He figured she wouldn’t be long so he had stretched himself out to take a nap, but a crawling feeling up his spine had practically whispered to him that something was wrong and it had kept him from completely relaxing.

 

Acting purely on instinct, he had then made his way outside just in time to see Max and the man’s mother burst through the door in an explosion of glass. 

 

It had taken him zero time at all to channel his focus on to the zombie and shoot it, and it had been a blur making sure that it was dead before he found himself holding Max and everything was clear again. It had been almost a shock and after checking her for injuries beyond just surface level, he had held her tightly while she calmed down from the near-death experience. It had all been too close of a situation for the two of them.

 

Needless to say neither of them had slept yet. And luckily Lucas knew a place with a couple of beds available.

 

Hopefully this time without any zombie interruptions.

 

Making it through town, Lucas and Max soon enough found themselves in the suburbs heading towards his old neighborhood. Some of the streetlights were still working, though there were still pockets of almost complete darkness, save for the moonlight giving everything a soft glow. 

 

They pull up to his house, a small blue one at the end of a long driveway. 

 

In another world, Lucas would be pulling back up to his place after a movie date or something. In this one, he’s shaking Max awake from the restless nap she had fallen into about halfway through the drive, exhausted from the fight earlier.

 

The house is pretty much how he remembered it last, and he can see where his family had grabbed things in a rush to leave. Some favorite items are missing and the walls are bare where they had taken photos off. He smiles at that though, glad that they had the chance to preserve those through this.

 

Max slowly is looking around, shrugging her oversized denim jacket off. 

 

Even with his family gone and chunks of his life taken out of the house, she can feel the energy that was there. The warmth that must have been in this family. She can practically see a younger Lucas running around the house, chased by a younger sister she had managed to get small descriptions of. He had mainly complained about how obnoxious she was, but Max could tell he was still proud of her.

 

She also had a feeling that she and Erica would get along extremely well from the sounds of it.

 

“So my room is upstairs, though if you’d prefer my parents’ room is down the hall up there too,” Lucas was saying, nudging Max to get her attention.

 

“Oh now you want to share a bed?”

 

“Zoomer I swear to –”

 

Max pinches his cheek before making her way up the soft carpeted stairs.

 

“Relax, I’m so tired I’ll literally sleep anywhere Sinclair. Just show me the way,” she accents her teasing statement with a large yawn.

 

Grumbling, Lucas follows behind her taking the stairs two at a time.

 

_She and Erica would definitely get along,_ he decided. 

 

Lucas’ room fits him well, a combination of warm and practical. The walls are a rich orange-red color and the blue curtains contrast well (if you ignore the thick layer of dust coating them). There’s a large desk stacked with books on physics and survival skills, as well as a handful of notebooks and what appears to be a vintage walkie talkie. 

 

Max would normally want to poke around more, but the sight of his bed is all she needs right now. She practically has a running start when she plops herself down onto it, smashing her face into his pillows.

 

Dear lord she needed this.

 

When she realizes that Lucas is still on the other side of the room, she rolls over and looks over at him.

 

“Aren’t you coming to bed dear? The children have been asleep for hours.”

 

Lucas chuckles to himself, sitting down at this desk.

 

“Nice try, but we’re going to do shifts. You sleep first, I’ll wake you up in a couple hours.”

 

Narrowing her eyes, Max considered fighting him on it but she could feel all of her strength succumbing to the bed. 

 

His mom had definitely picked out a great comforter for it.

 

“Fine, but don’t you dare let me oversleep because you need it too,” she declared warningly (though the edge was taken off by the sleepiness of her voice), tucking herself under the blankets.

 

Lucas waved her off, already sorting through the books on his desk. When he did eventually turn back around, she had already passed out. Curled up around one of his pillows, almost all he could see of her was a fan of red hair splayed out around her.

 

True to his word, he woke her up in a couple hours to switch, but it turns out a tired Max is a _grumpy Max_. She glared up at him and snapped that it was useless for them to both be tired so he should just hurry up and figure out a way to alert them if a zombie came up and to get into bed too.

 

He sighed heavily, knowing that the ache in body was screaming for more sleep. And the way that she could barely keep her eyes open told him that Max was feeling the same still.

 

Compiling a set up of weird odds and ends that make noise, he ends up shoving them against the door so that if it somehow got forced open they’d hear the noise and wake up. Then before his nerves can kick in and he over thinks it, he climbs into the bed with Max.

 

Luckily for him she’s already asleep, making a soft whistle with her mouth with occasional breaths out. He’s thankful because it means she won’t seem him awkwardly squirming underneath the covers trying to do it in the most graceful way while also not waking her up.

 

As he’s falling asleep, his body quickly relaxing in the comfort of his own home, he thinks to himself about how glad he is that he found Max and they’ve been able to stick together. Even beyond the whole saving-each-other’s-lives thing, her companionship has added so much to his life. He’s fairly certain he’s added to hers as well, and that’s the last thought he has before he drifts off to sleep with a smile on his face.

 

It’s hours later when sunlight streams through the frayed curtains in front of the window, awakening Max to an almost tauntingly beautiful summer morning.  


With a wrinkle of her nose, she shifts on the bed and looks up blearily. Lucas is looking through what appears to be a box filled with items, occasionally placing some in the backpack at his feet. She takes the moment to stare at him, watching as his mouth moves as he talks to himself and his hands flutter above the objects. It’s fascinating to her, watching someone think so visually, and she’s pretty sure she could do it forever. There’s also the way the morning sun is reflecting off his dark complexion that is making her cheeks feel incredibly warm. 

 

Realizing she’s been staring a bit too long, she clears her throat and swings her legs to the edge of the bed. Lucas glances up and gives her a wide smile.

 

“Here,” he says, tossing her a much more faded camo bandana than the one he is wearing. “Who knows what the hell we’re going to encounter in there. We might need to stop ourselves from inhaling shit or something.”

 

Max catches the bandana and smiles down at it. It’s the perfect symbol of Lucas and it’s clear that it has been for a while. If she had to guess it’s probably one from when he was in middle school, faded from years of wear. Quickly folding it, she ties it around her neck so that she’ll have easy access to pull it up above her mouth. Decaying bodies by themselves were already pretty sketchy to be around, there was no way she needed to inhale whatever the hell else was inside an infected body.

 

Lucas goes to hand her an extra flashlight and falters, staring at her while she adjusts the bandana.

 

It’s a weird clash of his past and present, but he can’t help the swell of pride growing in him seeing his trademark accessary on her. It suits her with her fiery hair and personality and he’s pretty sure he just found out his new favorite way to see that piece of fabric. 

 

Coughing to disguise his gazing when she looks up at him, he gestures the flashlight at Max and she grabs it, completely oblivious to him taking her in just seconds ago.

 

“You really had a lot of this survival stuff,” she commented, nodding her heads towards the pile of items that Lucas was sorting through.

 

He shrugged.

 

“Never hurts to be prepared. Plus me and the guys always went on adventures, we never knew what we were going to need.”

 

Max is off digging through something when he turns back around, swinging the backpack over his shoulder. When she pulls out a slightly misshapen object, he lets out a groan.

 

“Oh my god put it back.”

 

“I didn’t realize I was with a REAL LIFE Ghostbuster, I’m so honored!”  


“Shut up, put it back.”

 

She can’t stop giggling and pretends to fire the Proton Pack at Lucas, who is doing his best to maintain a straight face but can’t bring himself to actually commit to it.

 

“Hey we were thirteen, they were great costumes,” he said defending himself, trying to snatch it from Max as she darted around the room.

 

“Wait you went in a group??”

 

“Okay that’s it. Come on let’s go.”

 

* * *

 

The two of them fall back into silence as they make their way back across town in their stolen car. Lucas briefly points out the direction that his friend Will’s house is in, but otherwise they don’t talk much. For some reason it’s almost hard to know what to say. 

 

What do you say right before you break into a lab to possible discover the origin of a zombie infection that’s decimated the American population and drove people into hiding?

 

Pulling up to the lab is both exactly what Max expected and not at all.

 

It’s a towering structure, tucked back past amongst the trees that surround it and the long road to it. It’s boxy and covered in a grid-like structure. Its brutalist architecture is foreboding as it looms above them in the parking lot, but it also looks almost just awkwardly out of place at the same time.

 

Max rubs away the beads of sweat that had collected on her neck and squints up at it, trying to block the sun with her hand.

 

“So this is it,” she says aloud, equally to herself and to Lucas.

 

Lucas nods. He’s been here before, only once from the outside. Back when El first told them about her upbringing, the five of them tucked behind the wire fence staring in wonder and horror. About how the Chief had rescued her and adopted her after a raid, but that they had never been able to prove anything afterwards.

 

And now maybe there were even more secrets to be found in the depths of it.

 

Walking up to it, they both determinedly ignore the severed hand that’s cast in the grass by the bushes and the surrounding wall. 

 

The pavement in the sidewalk has cracked, most likely from the effects of the infection on the town as well as the blistering summer heat. The humidity had decided to be extra oppressive that day and Max’s t-shirt clung to her body and Lucas had rolled even his short sleeves up as much as possible. 

 

Broken glass leads them to the front doors like a trail of breadcrumbs, continuing the trend of shattered doors in town. Desperate times calls for desperate measures apparently.

 

Max is able to wiggle her hand through an opening and unlock the door, carefully pulling her arm back out so that she didn’t add to the mess of scars from last night’s fight. That would be the last thing she needs right now.

 

Walking into the front lobby gives them their first taste of what’s to come.

 

And the first thing that Max notices is that this place smells absolutely disgusting. 

 

There’s a couple of bodies shoved by what must have at one point been a front desk and judging by the state of decomposing they’re in, they were victims pretty early on. There’s a giant smear of blood heading towards the elevators, adding a gritty metallic smell to the already putrid aroma.

 

“I guess we follow the trail of blood?” Max suggests, gesturing her shovel at the blood, while she rests the rifle on her shoulder. 

 

Lucas nods grimly. Follow the trail of blood, it’s like they’ve entered a twisted world of _The Wizard of Oz_ and he’s not so sure about it.

 

They take a minute to each pull up their bandanas and then head towards the elevator. Fingers crossed it was going to work, Max reaches out and presses the small round button to the side. Sure enough, there’s a light _ding_ and the doors slight open.

 

Max nearly hurls and Lucas has to cough back his own nausea. 

 

There are two dead bodies resting in the back of the elevator and they don’t appear to have been dead for too horribly long by the smells of things. One of the heads is snapped back, its red eyes gazing soullessly at the two teens. The tendons from its neck have sprung apart like frayed strings of a violin and a dried puddle of blood has formed under its mouth where even more blood is collected. The other body appears to have once been a security guard, though he had apparently died midway through being infected before being attacked. A chunk of his head is missing and Max is fairly certain his ear is on the other side of the elevator. If there’s one small silver lining, this guy’s face is turned away. 

 

Gagging slightly, the two nod at each other before stepping into the elevator.

 

“Everything’s always in the basements right?” Lucas asked, his hand hesitating before pressing the button for the floor.

 

“Exactly my thoughts,” Max agreed, a grimace hidden by her bandana.

 

As the doors shut and the elevator jerked to life, Max briefly shut her eyes. Just days ago she had been in Chicago trying to just survive. Now she was sneaking into a lab. She still could barely grasp how this had all happened so quickly. But damn it, she was going to do this. Maybe there was more to life than just surviving.

 

When the doors open up to the basement, they’re greeted by a very different image than upstairs. While the lobby had a modern, slightly clinical interior, the basement was anything but that. The long, almost endless hallway, is practically as decayed as the zombies they had encountered. Stains and rust decorate the ceiling and walls and there’s a sickly, greenish tinge to everything. The lights along the ceiling are flickering ominously.

 

They lose track of time as they wander for a while. Testing the doors they come upon, most of them are locked or just lead to supply closets. A couple forks in the hallway take them deeper into the labyrinth and there’s a silence between them as they look for what will hopefully be an obvious sign.

 

Their first hint towards something is when they stumble upon a large room that opens up, the door already swung open.

 

There are wall to wall tiles and a busted tank lays knocked over in the middle, the only obvious trace of something in the room. However tucked back against one of the walls is a narrow set of stairs. It seems promising and with a quick check in with each other, the two make their way up the metal stairs to the room.

 

The door pushes open fairly easily, mainly thanks to the doorknob being yanked off with a chunk of the wood torn off by what appears to have been human teeth. Tentatively pushing it open with her shovel, Max eases the door aside and the two peer in, swinging their flashlights in to scope out the situation. The room is filled with computers and large tech equipment, most turned off and a couple with flickering screens. Max slowly steps in, shovel still at the ready. There’s a body in the back corner and she shifts the bandana further up her nose to block the smell from the decomposing body.

 

“It looks like a type of control room,” Lucas asses as he takes in the room’s interior. “Or like a main area for storing data, maybe observation desk too?” He points down to where the tank is, visible through a large window by the door.

 

Max agrees and can’t shake the feeling that there’s something important in here. She trails a finger in the dust on the long table before reaching one of the first computers that seemed to still be working. 

 

To the back there’s another glass wall, though the room it had once looked out into is pitch black and the metal door next to it, like all of the others earlier in the hallways, appears to still be sealed shut.

 

She makes a noise of interest as the computer makes a whirring noise and peaks Lucas’ interest who walks over to join her. Looking over her shoulder, she can hear him muttering to himself as he processes it.

 

Finally he clears his throat and announces, “I think I can hack into this.”

 

Max’s eyebrows shoot up and she laughs.

 

“Are you serious? Damn Sinclair, what else are you hiding from me?”

 

He jokingly shoved her shoulder as he sat down and she flicked him on the side of the head before leaning over him to watch as his fingers began to fly across the keys.

 

Before long, the screen fully comes to life and they’re in.

 

“Wow,” whispers Max, giving Lucas’ shoulder a quick squeeze. “You’re a badass.”

 

Lucas bites his lip as he smiles, but doesn’t respond as he quickly opens a documents folder and begins to scan the files. His eyes are moving faster than Max’s and soon enough he’s opening documents and skimming them.

 

Near the end of the files in the current folder he’s in, he opens one and it’s the smallest one yet. Rather than a bunch of technical and complex jargon, it appears to be a letter.

 

* * *

 

> To the office of the Secretary of State:
> 
>  
> 
> Hawkins Laboratory is regretfully reaching out to inform you that the tests have not been deemed successful. Miscalculations were made and the chemical imbalance created has caused an overwhelming mutation to the genetics of the test subjects. They are are experiencing rapid body decomposition – in short, their bodies are prematurely dying. Current studies show us that only through the consumption of human brains are they able to continue to survive.
> 
> We are running low on human test subjects and have resorted to testing animals from the local area. We suspect this will deplete our rations too quickly and are requesting more subjects to be transferred from Guantanamo Bay at the first chance. 
> 
> I will be flying to Washington soon. Please inform the President that this is an issue of extreme importance. It is a matter of national security that we perfect this before plans are made for the attack on our enemies in the Middle East, or it will impact our own troops as well.
> 
>  
> 
> Sincerely, 
> 
>  
> 
> Dr. Martin Brenner
> 
> Director of Hawkins National Laboratory 

 

* * *

 

The date at the top of the document is listed three days before the news broke about the infection.

 

Max’s head suddenly feels woozy and she rests her forehead on Lucas. The words she just read are swimming in her mind and she’s having trouble keeping breathing controlled and from the sounds of it, he is as well. His hands are balled up into fists and he’s squeezed his eyes shut.

 

“They were testing on people. Testing chemical warfare,” he hisses, a couple burning hot tears leaking out of his eyes before he furiously wipes them away.

 

“It’s the freaking Jurassic Park movies,” chokes out Max, lifting her head back up and pulling the bandana down in resignation. “They were too busy figuring out if they could, they didn’t stop to think if they should. And now we’re in this fucked up mess.”

 

“This Brenner guy doesn’t seem like he gave a shit about it either, he was practically begging for more people to test on.” 

 

Lucas’ voice is shaking with anger.

 

“I wonder if he ever got them?” 

 

Max’s question was answered in possibly the worst potential way just seconds after the words came out of her mouth.

 

It turns out that the sound of shattering glass isn’t something you get used to, and Max nearly jumps out of her skin as the sound of it and Lucas nearly falls out of the chair. Heads whipping up, the two immediately try to pull themselves together as they look to the room that had been to the side to see the source.

 

There has to be three, four - no, SIX zombies crawling their way through the busted glass wall.

 

Grabbing their weapons, Max and Lucas immediately jump into flight mode and take off, leaving the evidence they had found on the dimly glowing screen. That is before it’s knocked over by one of the zombies lunging for them just seconds too late. The computer crashes onto the ground and the zombies let out a chorus of groans as the teens escape.

 

The dark room behind the glass must have been somehow containing them during all of this time, unbeknownst to them while they had been reading the email. Which mean these ones were healthier and younger than other ones they had interacted with.

 

Max and Lucas nearly trip down the stairs, scrambling down as fast as they can as they reroute themselves back to where they came.

 

A roar from the zombie in the front of the group sends chills through their bodies and if it’s even possible, they push themselves harder. 

 

_Shit. Damn. Fuck. Hell._

 

They should have never gotten so distracted and not had someone on the lookout, but with the information they just learned swirling in her brain, Max can’t help but still grasp onto that triumphant feeling. They know something finally and this could all be worth it.

 

Now they just have to escape.

 

Fortunately they’re not ambushed by anymore zombies once they’re down and they burst into the main hallway. A quick glance and they dart to the right, the sounds of zombies clamoring after them becoming an increasingly not-so-distant echo.

 

The blood pumping through Max feels like a drum in her ears, a dull thumping pulsing through her head as they run as fast as they can. Lucas is just ahead of her and he keeps turning to check on her as they push forward, urging her along. Her legs are beginning to scream. She’s been on offense this whole time and the sudden switch to defense isn’t sitting well with her body. But there’s not a choice right now.

 

“Fuck! We went the wrong way,” grunts Lucas when they stop to briefly catch their breath. Max’s eyes grow twice as large as the realization hits her too, but it only takes one look back to know they’re not going to try going back that way.

 

They take off running again, finding themselves somehow going deeper and deeper into the lab despite the feeling of already being beyond the depths.

 

“There!” 

 

Up ahead there’s a room with the door swung open. Their shoes pound on the grimy linoleum, squeaking as they make a sharp turn to redirect their path to safety. Max nearly slides past the door as they screech to a halt and jump into the room, Lucas slamming the door shut behind them. 

 

Another bonus of being in a top secret lab: every room has a deadbolt lock.

 

Blissful calm miraculously surrounds them.

 

While Lucas secures the room, Max takes a quick scan of their surroundings. There’s a desk they can use as a shield but otherwise it’s mainly shelves filled with boxes of what appears to mainly just file folders. Papers are strewn about the floor and the office chair was knocked over. There might have been a small struggle there but for once there wasn’t a dead body in the room with them.

 

Lucas had just come over to her and rested the weapons on the desk when there was the first bang on the door.

 

The two teens nearly leapt out of their skin, freezing as they stared at each other before slowly turning around. 

 

_Another bang._

 

They hardly dare to breath, letting the silence hold before an eruption of pounding breaks it up.

 

Max’s quickly shoots her hand out to grab the rifle and Lucas wordlessly picks up the crossbow again. Shifting to be behind the desk, the two pull it back as far as they can so that they can create as much room as possible between them and the zombies just outside their door. 

 

As they rapidly set up a defense for themselves, the pounding becomes consistent. A rhythmic reminder of exactly what they’re up against. Lucas yanks down a shelving unit and the two of them drag it towards the corner of the desk to further protect themselves. She drops the shovel and gets the gun in hand. She’d rather not have to get herself into some hand to hand combat with these ones.

 

_Bang._

 

The door is beginning to splinter, the cracking of the wood filling the air.

 

_Bang._

 

Max sucks in air quickly, trying to keep herself calm. 

 

_Bang._

 

It’s not really working.

 

She glances over at Lucas, his gaze determined and glued to the door with the crossbow aimed right at it. His jaw is clenched and brow furrowed, his camo bandana pulled down low on his forehead. Max isn’t positive if they’re going to make it out of this tonight; they might finally be in over their head. The reality of death is quite literally knocking at the door.

 

A crack in the shape of a lightening bolt makes its way up the door as there’s another thud against the door.

 

Fuck it.

 

Lowering the gun, Max turns and grabs Lucas by the front of his shirt and spins him to face her. He’s startled at first, surprised to be broken out of his concentration and to find her suddenly so close to him. Her eyes are pleading and he’s sure there’s a matched desperation in his eyes.

 

It doesn’t take a second for them to read each others’ thoughts and they lean into each other at the exact same time. 

 

Max wouldn’t have ever planned on having her first kiss with Lucas just before dying from being swarmed by zombies. She would deny having put _too much_ thought into it, but she wouldn’t lie and say she hadn’t thought about it at all. But she had definitely hoped it would be in a moment of celebration, not in a panicked doubt of survival. 

 

However, there was no way she was going out of this life without kissing him though so this was going to have to do.

 

His lips are warm and she clings to him, angling her face in a better position now that they were finally kissing. His hand that wasn’t clutching on to the crossbow was holding the back of her neck in such a soft way, it belied the passion they were otherwise executing in the moment. It was a kiss filled with the fear of what was to come, but with the promise of what could possibly come. It was a frantic kiss and Max could only hope it wasn’t going to be their last.

 

Time wasn’t on their side though and they broke apart regretfully. Max let out a shuddering breath, releasing her tight grip that she still had on his shirt.

 

“Don’t die on me Stalker, okay?” she asked hoarsely. 

 

The corner of his mouth lifted up in a small smile.

 

“I’m not going anywhere Mad Max.”

 

Another thud on the door brings them back to reality, but this time there’s a new glint in their eyes as they prepare to defend themselves.

 

The door finally gives and swings open and Max takes the first shot.

 

The zombie that had entered first goes down in a perfect headshot, though Max finds herself staggering back a bit under the recoil of the rifle. She hadn’t shot one in ages, not since she and Billy had been young, but it quickly comes back to her.

 

Planting her feet in a more determined way, she refocuses the gun on the impending zombies.

 

Lucas lets an arrow fly, hitting one of them in the arm. It howls and saliva sprays everything. It already only has one full arm and the one that’s been torn in half twitches in anger as he struggles with the imbedded arrow. Eyes manic, it narrows its gaze on Lucas and pushes forward with a scream.

 

Max can’t do anything about it though, a third one pressing in on her while a fourth one skulks in the hallway on its knees. 

 

She lets out a deep breath and fires the rifle, missing this time.

 

Letting out a huff of frustration, she aims again.

 

Most of this one’s nose is missing and it’s making some sort of heavy breathing sound with its mouth as its eyes never stray from her. She can practically feel it salivating as it stares just above her eyes, zeroing no doubt in on her brain. It’s a revolting sensation to say the least.

 

She fires again. This time it’s a shot to the gut, sending it stumbling back into the one that Lucas had just shot a second time. That arrow is lodged in that one’s eye and it’s wailing, desperately trying to pull it out while still being impaired by the first arrow.

 

One more shot and this time she nails the zombie in the heart.

 

Lucas at that point pulls a hunting knife out of his back pocket and throws it with almost scary accuracy, finishing the job on the third one.

 

“Nice throw!” Max yells out, nearly shoulder to shoulder with him but unable to take her eyes off the fourth zombie who is now filling the doorway. 

 

“Thanks,” Lucas replies, quickly reloading his crossbow.

 

They both aim for the fourth one but it catches the arrow in one hand, Max’s bullet plunging into its hip. It moans at that, but manages to stay upright. As it forces itself into the room, Max gulps at the sheer size of this one. It’s absolutely massive compared to the others. 

 

Lucas swears under his breath and reloads again, his hands trying not to shake.

 

Max can barely make out the last two zombies in the hallway, clearly hanging back as they watch their undead comrades fall.

 

A bullet to his knee brings him down to more of their level and he’s nearly crawling towards them. Clearly unable to determine which one of them it wants to eat more, it sways back and forth and lets out a roar, opening its throat up to reveal a swollen gray tongue and blossoming spores. 

 

That’s when Lucas lets a second arrow fly and the zombie chokes on it before collapsing. 

 

Max is fighting to catch her breath and she wants nothing more than to turn and hug Lucas but she knows there are two zombies still left. And they certainly don’t seem happy about the way the tides are turning. They both run in and apparently have the brain power still to deduce that they can easily split up and each have one teen to themselves.

 

The zombie closest to Max spits out a couple teeth before growling at her, beginning to lumber towards her. 

 

She pulls the trigger on the rifle and the gun clicks.

 

_FUCK_.

 

Guns run out of bullets. Of. Freaking. Course.

 

Max kicks the one of the fallen filing cabinets towards it and scrambles back. Trying to calculate how far she’d have to go to get to the door, she adjusts her grip on the rifle to be more akin to a baseball bat. If she can’t shoot it, she’ll just swing it. 

 

She’s in the stance to take a whack at it, with it’s so close she can smell its rotting breath and seeing the red of its eyes, when suddenly its body is yanked upwards.

 

It smashes into the ceiling before being thrust to the ground, its body bursting at the impact. Body parts spray and Max ducks as an arm goes flying over her head.

 

What the hell…?

 

She’s rising from her crouched position when she hears Lucas yell out in relief.

 

“Mike! El!”

 

Max pushes her hair out of her eyes to see two new people standing in the doorway. A tall, lanky guy is currently yanking what looks to be a sword out of the zombie that was in front of Lucas and a girl is next to him, her arm extends out towards Max. 

 

A double what-the-hell type of moment.

 

But Max quickly remembers when Lucas goes up to embrace them that these must be two of his friends from before the infection. Shyly walking out from behind their barricade, she hovers behind them as the three quickly reconnect. The two of them look about as worn out as Max is sure she and Lucas look, though they certainly seem to be in relatively high spirits. Suddenly it’s her first day of high school all over again and she’s fighting to maintain an element of coolness (though for what reason she’s not sure because it’s a damn apocalypse but old habits die hard she supposes).

 

The two boys are babbling on about something, Mike wildly gesturing to the sword in his hand but the girl, El, keeps looking at Max. Finally she taps Lucas on the shoulder and points behind him right at her, interrupting Mike who doesn’t seem bothered by it.

 

“Aren’t you going to introduce us?” Her voice is low and soft and there’s a hint of humor in her tone, her eyes never seeming to blink as she cocks her head to the side.

 

Lucas spins and sees Max, who gives a slight wave and an awkward, toothy grin as all of the eyes swivel to her. He laughs and grabs her hand, pulling her up to them. Max tries not to blush as he intertwines their fingers.

 

“This is Max, I found her in Chicago. She’s a part of the party now.”

 

Mike and El cast a look at each other and Max was surprised at how it looked like they had an entire conversation in that brief moment. It was both impressive and scary at the same time. They turned back almost in synchrony and Mike shrugged, not seeming to need any more of an explanation to Max’s appearance beyond that.

 

“Okay, so what are you guys doing back here in Hawkins then?”

 

It was Max and Lucas’ turn to look at each other.

 

“Well,” Max began slowly, “We’re pretty sure we just discovered the origin of the infection.”

 

At that, both Mike and El’s eyes widened and Lucas had a smile on this face that was practically lighting up the room as he anxiously waited for her to finish.

 

“And we want to end this shit.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ah and that’s the end of this Lumax zombie AU! Sort of. I’m going to be continuing it as a series, and the next part will be told from Mike and El’s point of view. It’ll start just before they go to the lab and then the stories will merge. I also have ANOTHER Lucas and Max one shot in mind because I apparently have no control and I really love writing these two.
> 
> For the record: Max ended up with six kills and Lucas with five. So Mad Max still reigns.
> 
> Thanks to everyone for reading this story! It had originally started as such a random idea on a plane and it’s completely grown from there and everyone has had so many nice things to say about it. Thanks again!


End file.
